Mesopotamia, the land between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers -- modern day Syria, Turkey, Iraq and Iran -- is known as the "cradle of civilization." It gave the world its first temples, cities, bureaucracy, writing and eventually the earliest empires. That cradle is crumbling. Over the last four years, the region has been experiencing horrific murder, genocide and the destruction of cultural heritage on a scale never seen before. It is being perpetrated by the Islamic State, working out of northern and eastern Syria, and northern Iraq, although there are links to Egypt, Syria, Tunisia, Afghanistan, Libya, Jordan and Nigeria. We must act now to save the Iraqi people and the cultural heritage of this region, which is the foundation of western society. Last May, I returned to Iraq to teach and be a part of an archaeological project. It was the only part of Mesopotamia in which one could work since the civil war had closed off Syria, had spilled over into the southern parts of Turkey and most of southern Iraq. As we descended into Erbil, the capital city of the newly formed and largely independent, Kurdish Regional Government, with survey equipment, computers and trowels in hand, we were filled with excitement. But we had a big job ahead of us. We had tried in 2013 to visit the imperial cities of the Assyrian empire, Nimrud, Nineveh, Assur and Khorsabad, but to no avail -- the security situation was too unpredictable. These palaces are located along the Tigris River, south of Erbil, and were therefore in a disputed area now between the Kurds and the Iraqis, with frequent roadblocks, kidnappings and murder. These sites were simply too dangerous to visit. Fortunately, our Iraqi colleagues from the town of Mosul had been granted permission to travel to Erbil for our workshop last year -- less than a week after our meetings, fighting escalated between IS, the Iraqi soldiers working with them and the Kurdish peshmerga fighters. Mosul was conquered by IS and our colleagues were placed on curfews while their families, friends and colleagues were being killed across the city. Ultimately, IS surged toward Erbil and began attacking Kurdish soldiers and bombing the surrounding regions to gain control of the towns, villages and cities. IS was on the move to capture as much territory as possible, but they also had another agenda: To destroy any cultural heritage they considered to be 'idolatrous'. At first, they ravaged archaeological sites. Soon afterwards, they began to destroy public statues, monuments and ancient manuscripts, and conduct book burnings in Mosul. For the moment, the museums were spared; this was not to last. There is a clear directive, as part of the IS ideology, to "cleanse" the world of idolatrous images, words and people. Anything that does not fit into their vision of Islam is wiped out, including people, places and things. The majority of our Iraqi colleagues were forced to flee Mosul to other parts of the country. I had to make a return flight to Erbil on June 29, 2014 -- the day IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi established himself as caliph. While I was back in Erbil for only a short period of time, I could feel the tension on the streets. It was palpable. As I flew out of Erbil on my way to Turkey, I breathed a sigh of relief; it was a very different kind of emotion than what I had experienced when flying in a mere few weeks before. Since that day, things have only gotten worse for Iraqis, and for archaeological sites as well. Three out of the four Assyrian imperial palaces and the Parthian-era city of Hatra -- a UNESCO World Heritage Site -- have sustained extensive, deliberate damage meted out by IS militants. Mosques have been blown up, tombs of prophets destroyed (e.g. Jonah), ancient manuscripts burned and museums completely ravaged. IS has begun a religious and cultural war with the peoples of the region: the Kurdish Sunnis and the Shiite tribes of Iraq and Syria, and any other non-Arab ethnic groups, such as the Assyrian Christians and the Yezidis. This is a fascist philosophy that entails genocide of the worst kind. It is aimed at completely erasing the cultural heritage and identity of anyone who does not follow their narrow interpretation of Islam. Islamic State intends to destroy any links to the ancient Mesopotamian civilizations that laid the foundations for who we are today. It is our role not only as archaeologists, but as members of the human race, as Canadians and beneficiaries of western civilization, to stand up and be counted; not to tolerate such atrocities on the people of Mesopotamia and the destruction of our common heritage. If not us, then who?